Harry Potter and He's In Slytherin
by pocketgamer2001
Summary: Harry Potter gets put in Slytherin. Watch as his life changes due to his new house. New friendships, new loves, new enemies. And maybe, a different end awaits our hero. T cause of the actual Harry Potter canon. Multiple ships, but Harmony is the main one.
1. Chapter 1

"SLYTHERINE"

The word echoed across the Great Hall. Praise came from some, laughter from others. Some outright thought the Sorting Hat was making a joke. But Harry Potter, the boy who lived stood and walked across to the Slytherine table.

The boy he had met on the train, Ron Weasly looked shocked, wondering how someone as nice as Harry, famed for resisting the Dark Lords curse, could be put into the house ran by snakes. Hermione Granger, the girl who had fixed the glasses of the boy with emerald eyes, was a bit at odds with her thoughts, genuinely contemplating if the sorting hat had made a mistake. Alas, Harry Potter still took his place at the Slytherin table, right next to the arian...

"Draco Malfoy, at your service."

Harry shook the boys hand, attempting a small smile to return the boy's act of kindness. But the smile on Draco's face was not one of kindness, nor malice. Mischief creeped all over his face in that one moment.

"Harry Potter..." was the meek reply that came from the boy who lived. He leaned in and whispered, "Is Slytherin as bad as people say?"

Draco initially seemed surprised before feigning mock offence. "Who told you such blasphemy?! Of course we're not!"

After laughing amongst themselves for a spell and regaining their composure, Malfoy proceeded to add, "Depends on the person."

* * *

The Slytherin common room was what people would expect from Hogwarts if they had prior knowledge of it. Harry did not have that knowledge.

The grandiose fireplace, the several stylish tables, not to mention the luxurious couches. Harry felt like he was in a palace... inside a castle. Malfoy on the other hand, felt right at home. "My father ordered us in couches like these" he boasted as he threw himself onto the green couch, "right comfey they are."

Harry nervously sat down next to the boy, until he felt the comfort of the couch. He let it take him in as fast as possible then. "It's comfier than my bed at home!" was the gleeful response to the couches comforts.

Draco was very perplexed about this. The boy who lived, his bed wasn't as comfy as a couch? The couch was very comfy, he'd never say it wasn't, but a legend of the wizarding world surely had a household of grandeur and fame?

He didn't mention it though, as he simply began to talk to Harry about Hogwarts, the common room and their house in general. He was rather abrupt, and rude at times, but he had no ill intent against Harry. None at all.

* * *

The Gryffindor common room was abuzz with excitement all around. The Weasly twins were lecturing their brother about the school and the mischief that they could get up to, Neville Longbottom was attempting to socialise (to varrying degrees of success) and Miss Granger was taking the opportunity to explore their new living space for a spell. After which she put away all her clothes so that when night came, she would have a head start over the rest of her first year sisters.

She put her hair in a ponytail and changed into her night clothes, getting a further head start, before returning to the common room adorned with red and gold, and proceeding to put herself down on seat closest to the fire place and brush up on some Hogwarts history before school started properly the next day. Well that was the plan had she not overheard Ron, the ginger boy from the bus, make an interesting remark.

"I thought he was a bloody nice guy, but he got put in Slytherin, of all the houses!"

Instead of heading to her designated reading spot, she decided to sit at the table in the middle of the room and listen in for a little bit. Not out of any ill will, but just to double check...

"The boy who lived? In Slytherin? That's too many Bertie-Bots for you Ron!" One of twins (Presumed to be George) giggled furiously.

Suspicions confirmed.

"Whats the problem with Slytherin might I ask?" Hermione asked rather bluntly.

The two twins looked at her perplexed, whilst Ron buried his face in his hands, clearly remembering the train ride. "It's the house where the liars go, the ones who cause all the trouble, the ones..."

"Who become... the DARK WIZARDS!"

"..."

"..."

If the twins were a comedy duo, the joke didn't wuite land with either Ron or Hermione.

Regardless, Ron decided to clear the air, in case the witch didn't quite understand. "All the stuck up people and prats get put in Slytherin, bloody mental lot they are. Whats worse, I saw Harry talking to Malfoy, so 'e's lost anyway."

The name Malfoy was practically spat. "The blonde boy? Whats wrong with him?"

Ron got himself comfy in his seat whilst his elder twins walked away awkwardly, presumably taking their antics elsewhere.

"Well, you see."

* * *

It would be a lie to say that the next few weeks were perfect for Harry, that would be quite the stretch, but it wasn't incorrect either. Living a life far superior than that with the Dursleys, properly fed, school that interested him academically, not to mention friends. It seemed as though life had gone entirely up for Harry since starting at Hogwarts.

Despite his house.

Most of his house he didn't get along with. At all. Many of them were arrogant and presumed superiority, not to mention they tried to bully many of the other students. He stepped in where he could but, that wasn't always the best option. Repping his house colours didn't do wonders for him, almost earning him the scorn of every other house in the school and sideways glances from even some of the staff. His house was obnoxious and, despite his apparant fame and general well meaning demeanour, was looked down upon by most of the school.

Not everyone was unavoidable. Though he acted a prat in class, Malfoy had a respect for Harry that could almost be classed as friendship... though perhaps it was a curiosity in the boy who lived. Neville Longbottom from Gryffindor seemed to struggle with socialising as well, so they found some solace in the others friendship. Ron, the boy from the train, didn't object to speaking with him, but didn't go out of his way to be his friend. Complete 180 of his character on the train.

The girl who fixed his glasses didn't speak to him unless spoken to either. Perhaps that was just the way she is. Perhaps it was the Slytherin prejudice, or maybe she realised that her somewhat petty nature on the train wasn't the best way to make friends. Not that he could complain, he got his glasses fixed for free.

Snape was the oddest thing in the school at the moment. As the head of Slytherin, he made it quite clear that he had a bias towards his own house. Yet he seemed to despise the young Potter with all his heart. Why? Who knows.

He was making his way from potions to defence against the dark arts with Professor Quirrel when he happened upon a common sight. Slytherin students picking on someone, a Ravenclaw it was today, throwing her textbooks and bags to the ground. she didn't unable to handle the situation, but she wasn't rising to the taunts and jeers. To be expected of course, Ravenclaw's were known for wisdom, and the wisest thing to do here was to let them make a fool of themselves.

Harry wasn't a Ravenclaw for a reason though.

Looking back perhaps his modus operandi was not the most well though out. He strode over to his housemates, year 2's from the looks of it, and demanded they stop. Harry was fully expecting a joke spell cast his way. He failed to remember that, as year twos, they were stronger than him in more than magic.

And so, the boy who lived was strung out across the floor, the Ravenclaw performing some kind of healing magic on him to stop the pain in his gut. So again, Harry lived through adversity.

When she had stopped healing he started to sit up, to which he got a "There were better ways to go about that you know," in the most sarcastic voice he had heard since the train ride with the Granger girl.

"Well, I'm not Ravenclaw for a reason," was the repsonse he managed to wheeze out.

"You won't live long enough to be a Slytherin at this rate."

Harry couldn't argue at this. Not even a little bit.

"Thanks for trying to help though, despite the outcome."  
"Trying is quite literally the only thing I'm good at."

"There were not only better ways to phrase that sentence, but you're wrong. You're good at being humble."

Harry almost couldn't believe he had tried to help this girl. Almost, but he was still a good person at heart. "Do you have to have a smart answer for everything?"

"Kind of my house's fault to be honest," was the dry response he initially got, before she smiled and visibly relaxed, "but it's not entirely me you know? Don't associate with Slytherins much so I had to check you were a decent person."

Given the knowledge he currently had regarding his house, it was a fair concern to have. They were mostly prats.

"Earth to wizard, do you copy?" Harry hadn't realised he had to zone out for that thought. "I'm Cho Chang, and you," she said rather enthusiastically, "must be Harry Potter."

Harry was surprised she knew him until she pointed at his lightning scar. Ah yes, the part of him that marked him as a celebrity amongst these people. Of course she recognised him. Harry was just getting to his feet to continue the conversation when Neville called to him. "Harry! You're going to be late!"

Bringing his timetable back to the forefront of his mind Harry dusted himself down rapidly. "Sorry, I have to go to class," he said, genuinely apologetic as Cho's textbooks were still lying on the floor, " but, uh, I might, um..."

"See you around is the phrase you're looking for."

Even when Ravenclaw's were being nice, they were very smart about it. "Yep! Um, bye."

Harry dashed to catch up to Neville before they were late for Defence, whilst Cho took her time picking up her books as she had a free period.

Quickly following behind Harry and Neville was the girl who was never late to class, but let her curiosity got the better of her when she decided to watch Harry confront his elders. And given what she had found out Slytherin from her peers, Hermione knew that Harry's actions were very non Slytherin.

Helping another house? Most definitely not an action of a Slytherin.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry's first time flying was an interesting one but it was an experience he'd cherish for the rest of his life.

Saying "Up" and having the broom fly into his hand was a gratifying experience and surprisingly cathartic. The wooden handle fit snugly into his hand and the touch of the wood was familiar, yet new. It was an odd moment.

Draco didn't have the emotional connection to this moment that Harry had, due to him already being taught how to fly a broom properly. He still couldn't deny the thrill he always got when the handle hit his hand with a dull thud that felt excruciatingly similar to hitting a drum.

Not everyone had as much luck with their brooms as the two Slytherin boys. Draco's initial reaction was to mock everyone for being bad at magic, but he had picked up on Harry's distaste regarding many people in Slytherin and decided not to poke fun at people. He even chose not to steal whatever Longbottom was fiddling about with when the teacher left.

What he did not overlook was the Weasley attempting to show off despite his obvious lackluster skills compared to himself.

"Did you see that?! Bloody 'ell that was cool!"

Excitement. Pride. Easy things to break. these were the thoughts parading through Malfoy's haed.

"And what exactly have you achieved here Weasley?" he almost spat at the Gryffindor.

Ron turned almost instantaneously to face his tormentor. No words came to retort however, so Draco pressed his advantage.

"'Cause if you ask me, it looks like you took far too long to lift up a stick."

The smirk was driving Ron into a corner, and the sudden interest of the other students prompted Harry to turn away from Neville and pay attention to what was happening.

"Shut it Malfoy! Stupid..."

"What was that Weasley? Can't actually argue back? Filthy weasel."

"You take that back!"

"Awww, is little ginger angry now? What a shame!"

Harry could see where this was going from a mile away. Malfoy was going to end up instigating a fight and then claim it was not his fault. One of the worst parts of his new friend. "Draco stop."

The blonde boy was having too much fun right now though. "Nah, I think I'll see what this little man can do, haha!"

The chuckle was disconcerting. Harry saw Ron quaking, his fist clenched but his head down. Harry could tell his eyes were closed. He made the same expression at his Uncle Vernon many times, "Draco, stop. Now."

"Come on Harry! Look at him! Its great!"

"Please... please stop."

Harry turned to see the ginger boy whimper, somewhere between anger and sadness. Part of Ron looked ready to break down, whilst another looked ready to smack Malfoy.

"Aw see? It's pathetic isn't it?"

Harry could really feel his blood boil. "Draco..."

"Isn't it just great? Father works for the ministry does he? Well it doesn't stop you being dirt poor does it?"

"Draco..."

The next words were a mistake. "You'd be as well living under the stairs with how you li-"

"Malfoy!"

The shout was harsh. The wind turned silent. Draco was shocked. He might've anticipated Harry not liking him picking on the boy, but this reaction was new to him. He turned and took one last look at Ron before walking over to Harry, attempting to hide himself in the crowd. The boy who lived began to walk over to Ron, who looked just as surprised as Malfoy.

"You alright?" The concern in Harry's voice was practically tangible.

"Yeah... yeah I- I'm fine." Ron swallowed, attempting to clear his throat.

Harry gave him a couple of pats on the back before attempting to reassure him. "If it's any consolation I i under the stairs."

Ron took that on board. It made him feel better, but also shocked. Draco, also shocked. Everyone present at that moment was shocked. Pupils like Pansy immediately started whispering, whilst the more intellectual of the group like Hermione just stood there trying to rationalise that comment.

Harry Potter, the boy who lived, a celebrity amongst the wizarding world, lived under some stairs? It could never have been thought of.

And yet, towards the end of their first flying lesson, every first year knew. Every single one could tell you about Harry's pre-Hogwarts life.

* * *

The Great Hall was abuzz with life and vigour as the students had their evening meal. Each table was filled by only the members of their house, although that didn't stop inter house mingling. With all but one house.

With Slytherin often looked down upon by the other houses, and most of his house not actually liking him, Harry often ended up alone at the end of the table. Often he would be joined by Draco, but he was with some of the other students today. Cho passed by him, politely said hello and continued to walk by with someone who seemed to be a Hufflepuff.

So dinner was as uneventful as usual for Harry. Left at peace by the rest of his house. It wasn't bad, but it could have been better.

However, at the Gryffindor table, someone was away to have a slightly worse night.

Hermione was thinking about the events that had happened during the flight lesson. It wasn't at the forefront of her daily thoughts but she had exhausted her schoolwork mindset for the day and needed to focus on other things.

Evidently Ron was still thinking about the lesson, but not so much about Harry. "What a stuck up snake, I really was gonna ounch him."

"Um, no you weren't mate." The giggle appeared to come from Dean Thomas, a face she wasn't too familiar with.

Despite how relevant their conversation was to her thoughts, Hermione let her peers speak without interrupting. Her mind was focused on the actions of one Harry Potter, who was becoming even more of an enigma the more she saw of him. He was a Slytherin, mischievous, threatening and other such adjectives, but he was composed, kind and ultimately stood against Draco, the person who appeared to be his best friend at this point, to protect Ron, a person who ultimately forsook Harry due to his house. Whilst she couldn't exactly blame Ron after seeing the other Slytherin, it didn't make sense why Harry would protect him if he was a Slytherin.

"Oi, Hermione, what do you think?"

Hermione had stopped listening to them, so Ron calling her out was a shock for her. "Pardon?"

"What do you think about 'arry? You know, the boy who lived?"

Flustered, but formulating a response, the girl sighed, pushed her hair back and reply, rather calmly, with potential essay waiting to happen. "Well, he seems like a nice person, in his time here I've not seen him do anything wrong or potentially bad, and though I find his friendship with Malfoy... concerning," she paused to think for a time before continuing, "I find him to be an interesting person to witness. What he's truly like, I don't really know."

Dean should've kept his mouth shut after that. "But do you know what anyones truly like?"

An offhand comment immediately startled the young witch. "What do you mean by that?" was the rather angry response that was given.

Dean made no attempt to continue. Ron then opened his big mouth without thinking, "I fink he's just saying you have no friends."

The nonchalant way he said that hit her hard. "I do too have friends!"

"Who then?"

Hermione didn't have a snappy answer for this so the conversation quickly moved to Ron saying "'Cause you're always looking pretty alone."

It was all starting to get to Hermione, the silly attitude of Ron whilst saying something so...

The wet behind her eyes was starting but she held them back. "And what, do you think I'm incapable of making friends!?"

"After the train? Yeah, kinda."

Harry only remembers hearing the harsh sound of a chair scraping across the floor accompanied with the fast footsteps of someone leaving the hall. He seemed to be one of the only ones to notice as he turned from his dinner to see a familiar looking girl with his back to him leaving the hall, her left hand going to her eyes when she was almost out of his field of view.

The thought had occurred to follow the girl and find out what was wrong, but then recalling his house deemed that it was better that he didn't go after her.

Draco came down and sat across from Harry, his eyes also trained on the door to the great hall. He sat with one leg crossed over and propped his head with his right arm. "What do you think was wrong with her?"

"I don't know," Harry responded, "but she's not doing alright."

Malfoy scoffed at this, "She's Gryffindor, 'course she's not doing alright."

Harry laughed nervously but truthfully, which seemed to be the reaction his friend was going for. Harry continued to look at the door when Malfoy surprised him with, "So did you really live under a set of stairs?"

Harry turned to look at the other boy before looking down at his plate. "Yeah," was the quiet, nervous word that Harry replied with, "I lived with my muggle aunt and uncle, they hated magic. Were afraid I'd turn out like my parents." He sighed. "So they kept me in a cupboard under the stairs, never let me go out and make friends, barely let me speak. It wasn't, abuse but..."

The look on Malfoy's face was unusual, which was about what Harry expected. He didn't think Malfoy would have gone through something like that, so it was understandable that he didn't understand it.

Harry still didn't quite understand it either.

* * *

Cho heard the door to the girls bathroom swing open as she was washing her hands. She turned only to see a first year Gryffindor, tears strewn down her face try and lock herself in a cubical. She knocked on the door, only to be met with a muffled noise and an infrequent sniff.

"You okay?"

No verbal response.

"It's okay, I wont tell anyone."

"I...It's just..." was the barely audible response Cho got, "I-I don't have f.. friends. People don't like m-me..."

"W-well..." Cho wasn't knowledgeable on this particular issue. She'd always had friends in Hogwarts, she hadn't ever felt isolated. Presured to help, she responded, "I'll be your friend then! Whats your name?"

Though she felt this was all moving a bit fast for her liking, the girl complied, "H-Hermione. Hermione Granger."

"I'll come see later okay?" Cho didn't know the exact details yet, but as a Ravenclaww she had a problem that needed solving, and as far as she was concerned, she'd found a solution. "Don't worry, some people just won't... get you."

Cho left the bathroom feeling uneasy about her answer, but hopeful she had helped her fellow witch. Hermione felt... at odds. She was far from being okay but someone had offered to help her, something she hadn't anticipated happening.

Things might be looking up for Miss Granger.

* * *

Professor Quirrel came in. He screamed about a troll wandering the school. He fainted shortly thereafter. Malfoy found that quite funny since Quirrel taught defence against the dark arts. Harry saw the humour but he wasn't laughing. The teachers started evacuating students out of the hall. As soon as Harry had left the hall, he dashed through the crowd into the open corridor. Draco called him back, but as that failed he chased after him. Ron wanted to follow them, wondering what they were planning to do, but he was stopped by Snape. He didn't rat out his peers however. He had faith in whatever they were trying to do.

They turned a corner and Malfoy finally caught Harry's arm. He was about to tell the Potter how stupid it was to go thrillseeking, to fight a troll. But the look in Harry's eyes wasn't one of an adrenaline rush; it was one of fear.

"The girl," Harry said, "The girl from earlier!"

Malfoy was initially confused, but realised the moment before Harry told him.

"She doesn't know!"


	3. Chapter 3

"This is NOT how I wanted to be spending my Halloween Potter!"

"Just hurry up!" Harry hadn't thought Malfoy would be so opposed to this.

Yes, the boy obviously had a disdain for the other houses, but even Harry didn't believe he'd want to forsake someone. No, Malfoy was just nervous, a tad more than his stoic expression would lead you to believe. But Harry didn't know that, so his friends desire to run away struck him as a bit selfish. It reminded him of how he acted in the robe shop: stuck up.

They rounded a corner at speed, looking for the girl who had left the hall. She couldn't have gotten that far, she had to be on the first floor. Their footsteps echoed in the empty corridor. The noise started to pierce their heads as it was the only thing apart from silence. Harry could have sworn he could hear something else, but that wasn't verified until he rounded the corner.

BAM*

Harry had collided into someone. Draco was stiffling his laughter, The person on the ground was away to be angry.

"Oi, watch where yo- Harry?"

Harry looked up and was greeted with the familiar face of one Cho Chang.

"Oh good Harry, we found the girl," Draco struggled to form sentences between laughs, "c-can we go now?"

Cho was very confused, "You were looking for me?"

"No, you're not Gryffindor, Draco it's not her!"

Draco stopped laughing, immediately the knowledge that they hadn't found the Gryffindor one part comforted him, other part annoyed him. He was gonna argue but, sure enough, the girl was in Ravenclaw. Now, Harry would continue to drag him around searching for someone he probably didn't even like.

But he trusted the boy who lived, and would follow him regardless. "Then where is she?" he spat, perhaps a bit harsher than he had meant the words to come out but his general demeanor wouldn't allow for it.

Cho was very confused. Visibly, her face contorted at the incredibly fast conversation between the two Slytherin. "Mind telling me whats going on?"

"We're looking for a girl, Gryffindor, um-" Harry paused whilst he remembered a moment, "bushy, brown hair?"

"Why're you looking for her?"

"Well- um..."

"There's a troll." The blunt response suggested he didn't want to spend more time than neccesary in the corridors.

Cho took the news a bit better than either of the first years thought. "A troll? Here?"

Both boys nodded: Harry did so enthusiastically whilst Draco was a bit more indignant towards the whole situation. Harry couldn't waste time though, "Do you know where she is? She doesn't know!"

Cho thought for just a moment until she was struck by a thought. A Gryffindor was in the bathroom. The girl who as crying. That girl wouldn't know about the troll, Cho didn't know until just now.

"Hermione! She's in the bathroom!"

Harry's face lit up slightly, recognising his classmates name. Draco's twisted in disgust, but that couldn't be helped. They were now off to save Granger, a Gryffindor AND a Mudblood. He had a moment where he considered not helping Harry, but he respected him too much. So, his prejudices were put aside, if for but a moment.

There wasn't much room for conversation as Cho shouted "This way!" before leading the two boys off towards the girls bathroom at breakneck speeds.

As he rounded a corner, Harry saw Snape dashing up the stairs that went to the third floor. Strange, would he not be leading the Slytherins to the common room?

The thought quickly left him as they found themselves at the girls bathroom. Cho was about to say something about decency and keeping the boys out, but the ear splitting scream and the sound of cubicles breaking stopped the etiquette train in all of them as they burst in.

Harry had only seen trolls in his DatDa textbooks. Draco had seen one when he went to a wizard zoo, although that one had been tamed. Cho had fought a 3 foot tall troll as part of her exam in DatDA the previous year.

None of them really expected the thing to ten foot and armed with a club about the size of harry, and nearly as wide towards the end of it.

Hermione was ducked down behind one of the now broken cubical doors, screaming as loud as she could to get help. Harry instantly stepped right to try and turn towards her, but Cho beat him to it. She hopped over the broken walls towards Hermione in an attempt to get her out.

Harry knew the troll wouldn't let the two of them just escape. It needed to be distracted, or taken down if they could afford it. He looked around and saw the sink behind the troll to be intact, and it's rough skin looked climbable. Harry had the semblance of a plan. But he needed Draco.

"Get the thing to focus on you."

"What?!"

"I have a plan, just do it!"

Draco wasn't happy about being bait, but he knew Harry wasn't dumb enough to let him get killed. At least he hoped he knew Harry well enough.

He ran to the empty corner of the room and began waving his wand around after shouting " _Lumos_!" causing a flash of light in the dimly lit restroom.

The troll followed the light at the end of Draco's wand whilst starting to lumber towards the blonde boy. Harry took this opportunity to get behind it, climb up onto the sink and then, wand in hand, jumped onto it's back.

Hands hanging tight around it's neck, Harry shoved his wand up the troll's nose. That caused it to blunder. It twisted around, trying to get Harry off of his back. It threw its club against the back wall as a result.

Harry's grip eventually slipped, and he was thrown off its back and into the wall just beside Cho and Hermione. His head was thumping, he couldn't hear Cho trying to help him or Hermione sreaming, trying to see if he was alright. He didn't even see either of them. His vision caught the troll moving towards Malfoy, his wand still sparking with light at the end, still trying to get the troll away from them.

Harry could see where this was going from a mile away. He summoned the rest of the strenght he had, looking at the club. He recalled the way Hermione had said it during class earlier and, flicking his wand in the direction of the club, chanted in a voice as loud as he could muster, " _Wingardium Leviosa_..."

The club lifted up, much to the amazement of both girls beside him, and followed Harry's wand until is directly above the troll's head. He stopped the spell, gasping for breath after focusing so much. The club fell right onto the troll's head, knocking it out. Malfoy stopped, amazed for a moment that harry had that much strength in him. He was away to take in the hard victory when he saw the two girls trying to help Harry to his feet.

If either of the boys were found here they'd have more to answer to than a troll. It was a girls bathroom after all. He dashed over and lifted up Harry as they proceeded to hop out of the bathroom. Malfoy cast one glance over his shoulder and said in a whisper shout, "We weren't here, if anyone asks about the troll, the two of you took care of it, it ambushed you in here or whatever. We weren't apart of anything."

He then moved as quickly as he could with Harry hobbling whilst leaning on his shoulder. He knew the way to the Slytherin dorms from here, and he knew the ways that were least likely to get them caught.

Both girls looked very perplexed at the seemingly noble acts of the two Slytherin boys, and they both wonder if Slytherin is really that bad.

Hermione looked at the cubical next to her and saw a wand she knew didn't belong to Malfoy. She picked it up and hid it under her robes, hoping to return it later.

* * *

Ron wasn't the smartest cookie in the jar, but he definitely wasn't stupid either. It had taken him until he was in the Gryffindor common room to figure out that Malfoy and Harry had gone after Hermione. As soon as this realisation had struck him he told the rest of his year where he was going and Professor MacGonagall to follow him, genuinely worried by the idea of not one but three students being out with a troll on the loose.

They rounded the corner and saw the walls surrounding the frame of the girls first floor bathroom were damaged. They both feared the worst until they saw Hermione Granger and second year Ravenclaw Cho Chang emerge from the bathroom relatively unscathed. Cho was about to take responsibility as she was the one who had left Hermione alone in the bathroom when Hermione spoke up. She said she had followed the troll and that Cho tried to stop her. She said that Cho protected her when she had been attacked. But, most shockingly of all to Ron...

"There were two Slytherin boys that came in and saved us. I didn't see their faces though... I do apologise ever so much Professor!"

Mcgonagall was initially very stunned by the young girls story, but decided to take her at face value. "If what you say is true Miss Granger, then you shall lose 10 points from Gryffindor for this foolish act."

Hermione looked sheepish, Cho looked saddened and Ron felt overwhelmingly guilty. But Mcgonagall broke into a smile. "However, for notifying a teacher in times of trouble, Ronald Weasley gets 15 points for Gryffindor. Cho Chang, for acting responsibly and smartly in a dangerous situation, 15 points for Ravenclaw!"

The mood in the room brightened significantly at that moment, but there was still bittersweet news to come. "As much as it pains me to say it as Gryffindor house head, Slytherin will receive 25 points on account of the two students who took down the troll."

No one seemed to mind. Not even Ron, who's distaste for the house of snakes was well known amongst the staff and pupils.

Hermione allowed herself a cheeky smile at this actually. The person who saved her; a Slytherin with the strength of a Gryffindor. Unheard of!

* * *

"You sure you can walk alright?"

"Yeah, I can- ah!... Walk from here."

Draco wasn't confident that Harry meant what he said, but the boy obviously had a problem with relying on others for help.

Harry wasn't seriously injured. They determined this by prodding at him with a wand until they were sure no bones were broken. He had been winded after being thrown at the wall, but was in no danger of death. They thought. They didn't know for sure however, they were only 11.

They sneaked their way back to the Slytherin dorms in the dugeons. taking great care not to run into any ghosts nor teachers. They may have been praised for taking down the troll, but they didn't want to deal with negative consequences of being in the girls bathroom. Draco had decided that the better option was to leave the girls there, as they could more easily explain their situation, or even lie about it should they feel so inclined.

On a particularly long corridor quite close to the dorms, Harry decided to speak up. "There was something weird about Snape."

"What are you on about now?" Malfoy grew tiresome of Harry's sudden revelations rather quickly.

"When were running around looking for Her-ugh!... Hermione," he got his balance back,"I saw him running up to the third floor."

Draco was puzzled by this. "What's wrong with that?"

"The stairs he went up weren't anywhere near the dorms, and if the troll came from the dungeon, he should have been protecting the ground floor instead of the upstairs rooms right?"

Malfoy did have to admit that his head of house was displaying some odd behaviour if that was his thought process during the troll attack. "So in reality, the question here is what could Snape have wanted from the thrid floor yeah?"

Harry nodded. "Just thought it was strange."

They agreed to speak about it later around the time they rounded the corner to the dorms. To their surprise, their house wasn't actually in the common room. They were engaged in what seemed like... puzzle solving?

They later found out that the password had changed during the feast. Snape was going to give it out but the troll attack had happened. A common fact was that the Slytherin passwords followed a set formula and rotation, so the higher years sat closer to the hallway trying to figure out the passwords whilst the younger ones were huddled in the entryway to the tower in order to be more protected if the troll came.

They were also questioned on their whereabouts, to which Harry cleverly replied that they had gone to the bathroom. Not entirely untrue.

Snape came up after about 10 minutes, told them that the troll had been taken care of, gave them the password (this time it was " _parsel fangs_ ") and told them they could finish the feast in their common room before going to sleep.

Harry couldn't help but notice that Snape had a bit of a limp.

Harry had a small plate of food compared to his peers before going up to sleep, exhausted from the fight in the bathroom. As he collapsed on his bed, he ran through his thoughts on what Snape was doing on the third floor, before deciding to sleep on the memory of he and his friend taking down a troll.

* * *

"I'm really sorry Hermione, I didn't know I was being a prat earlier..."

"It's alright... just, DON'T make a habit of it."

Ron nodded vigorously, making it clear that he had never meant to hurt her feelings but just hadn't thought before opening his mouth. When he was done apologising, he brought the conversation back to the troll. "So, was it Harry and Malfoy then?"

Hermione was flustered. How had Ron known? When he explained that he saw them rushing down the corridor, it made a bit more sense how he had known what was going on. He mentioned how Malfoy had been running in a very begrudged manner, clearly not happy with the circumstances. But Harry was just running, trying to find and warn her.

Yet another piece to add to the puzzle of Harry Potter.

She recalled the wand she had picked up in the bathroom and wondered how she could return it without causing a scene.

Her mind reached the obvious conclusion as she asked if anyone had an owl she could borrow.

* * *

Harry wasn't doing too greatly. He was alone at breakfast (Draco was sitting with Crabbe and Goyle), everyone was arguing about who took down the troll (which was Draco and himself) and he had dropped his wand in the confusion the previous day. He would need to order a new one from Ollivanders.

Or at least that was the thought, but when an owl came to him holding a long, thin package and a note, he realised what it was.

His wand was wrapped in cloth, clean and intact despite the trolls efforts to make it otherwise. The owl dropped the note and then took off, leaving Harry to read to himself.

 _"Dear Mr Potter,_

 _I understand that returning your wand isn't how I repay you for yesterday, but I assumed that your classes would be quite hard without it._

 _Thank you for finding me yesterday. I don't know what I would have down with you and Cho... and Malfoy._

 _This debt will not go unpaid._

 _Sincerely, a grateful Gryffindor."_

Harry allowed himself a smile as he read the read the note, before piling another piece of bacon onto his plate.


End file.
